Crowd sourced, content aware smarter television systems

ABSTRACT

Method, system, and computer program product for performing an operation, the operation including broadcasting one or more media streams to one or more remote devices, the remote devices configured to provide feedback related to the one or more media streams, the remote devices configured to display a media stream on a television coupled to the remote device. The operation then aggregates, based on a predefined aggregation criterion, feedback received from the remote devices related to a first media stream. The operation then, upon determining that the aggregated feedback of the first media stream exceeds a predefined threshold for the predefined aggregation criterion, marks the first media stream based on the predefined aggregation criterion, the remote devices configured to, responsive to receiving the marked first media stream, perform a predefined operation to effect prioritized display of the first media stream on the television.

BACKGROUND

Embodiments disclosed herein relate to the field of television. Morespecifically, embodiments disclosed herein relate to crowd sourcedtelevision systems.

SUMMARY

Embodiments disclosed herein provide a method, system, and computerprogram product for performing an operation, the operation includingbroadcasting one or more media streams to one or more remote devices,the remote devices configured to provide feedback related to the one ormore media streams, the remote devices configured to display a mediastream on a television coupled to the remote device. The operation thenaggregates, based on a predefined aggregation criterion, feedbackreceived from at least one of the remote devices related to a firstmedia stream. The operation then, upon determining that the aggregatedfeedback of the first media stream exceeds a predefined threshold forthe predefined aggregation criterion, marks the first media stream basedon the predefined aggregation criterion, the remote devices configuredto, responsive to receiving the marked first media stream, perform apredefined operation to effect prioritized display of the first mediastream on the television.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above recited aspects are attained andcan be understood in detail, a more particular description ofembodiments of the disclosure, briefly summarized above, may be had byreference to the appended drawings.

It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate onlytypical embodiments of this disclosure and are therefore not to beconsidered limiting of its scope, for the disclosure may admit to otherequally effective embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustrating techniques for crowd sourcedtelevision systems, according to one embodiment disclosed herein.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a system for crowd sourcedtelevision systems, according to one embodiment disclosed herein.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method for crowd sourcedtelevision systems, according to one embodiment disclosed herein.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method for marking contentstreams, according to one embodiment disclosed herein.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method for managing receivedmarked content, according to one embodiment disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments disclosed herein provide a method, system, and computerprogram product for performing an operation, the operation includingbroadcasting one or more media streams to one or more remote devices,the remote devices configured to provide feedback related to the one ormore media streams, the remote devices configured to display a mediastream on a television coupled to the remote device. The operation thenaggregates, based on a predefined aggregation criterion, feedbackreceived from at least one of the remote devices related to a firstmedia stream. The operation then, upon determining that the aggregatedfeedback of the first media stream exceeds a predefined threshold forthe predefined aggregation criterion, marks the first media stream basedon the predefined aggregation criterion, the remote devices configuredto, responsive to receiving the marked first media stream, perform apredefined operation to effect prioritized display of the first mediastream on the television.

Embodiments disclosed herein describe techniques for crowd sourcedtelevision systems which allow viewers of content to provide real timefeedback to the broadcaster. The broadcaster may then, responsive toreceiving feedback from users, mark the content based on the feedback.For example, if enough viewers indicate that the content is offensive tofollowers of a particular faith, the content may be tagged as offensiveto viewers of that faith while it is being broadcast. Viewers who carenot to view offensive content may set preferences in their displaydevices, which, upon receiving the marked content, may restrict thedisplay of the content to the user. A portion of the content or theentire content may be the subject of viewer feedback, and a portion ofthe content or the entire content may be marked by the broadcaster.Embodiments disclosed herein allow broadcasters to satisfy thepreferences of a plurality of different viewers having numerouspreferences. Additionally, ratings and markings may be based on anycategory of viewer preferences, and marked content may be broadcast asmarked content in the future. Viewers may also have the option ofsubscribing to content categories based on preferences. For example, afollower of the Buddhist faith may subscribe to content feeds preferredby other Buddhist viewers.

In the following, reference is made to embodiments of the disclosure.However, it should be understood that the disclosure is not limited tospecific described embodiments. Instead, any combination of thefollowing features and elements, whether related to differentembodiments or not, is contemplated to implement and practice thedisclosure. Furthermore, although embodiments of the disclosure mayachieve advantages over other possible solutions and/or over the priorart, whether or not a particular advantage is achieved by a givenembodiment is not limiting of the disclosure. Thus, the followingaspects, features, embodiments and advantages are merely illustrativeand are not considered elements or limitations of the appended claimsexcept where explicitly recited in a claim(s). Likewise, reference to“the invention” shall not be construed as a generalization of anyinventive subject matter disclosed herein and shall not be considered tobe an element or limitation of the appended claims except whereexplicitly recited in a claim(s).

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentdisclosure may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present disclosure may take theform of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber,a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storagemedium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a programfor use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent disclosure may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Aspects of the present disclosure are described below with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of thedisclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

Embodiments of the disclosure may be provided to end users through acloud computing infrastructure. Cloud computing generally refers to theprovision of scalable computing resources as a service over a network.More formally, cloud computing may be defined as a computing capabilitythat provides an abstraction between the computing resource and itsunderlying technical architecture (e.g., servers, storage, networks),enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool ofconfigurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned andreleased with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.Thus, cloud computing allows a user to access virtual computingresources (e.g., storage, data, applications, and even completevirtualized computing systems) in “the cloud,” without regard for theunderlying physical systems (or locations of those systems) used toprovide the computing resources.

Typically, cloud computing resources are provided to a user on apay-per-use basis, where users are charged only for the computingresources actually used (e.g. an amount of storage space consumed by auser or a number of virtualized systems instantiated by the user). Auser can access any of the resources that reside in the cloud at anytime, and from anywhere across the Internet. In context of the presentdisclosure, a user may access applications for crowd sourced televisionsystems or related data available in the cloud. For example, the crowdsourced television application could execute on a computing system inthe cloud and mark broadcast television content based on userpreferences. In such a case, the crowd sourced television applicationcould mark the stream and store user preferences at a storage locationin the cloud. Doing so allows a user to access this information from anycomputing system attached to a network connected to the cloud (e.g., theInternet).

FIG. 1 is a schematic 100 illustrating techniques for crowd sourcedtelevision systems, according to one embodiment disclosed herein. Asshown, the schematic 100 includes a plurality of televisions 101, eachof which may be connected to one (or more) of the set top boxes 102. Aremote control 103 may be used to control the set top box 102 and thetelevision 101. The televisions 101, set top boxes 102, and remotecontrols 103 may be spread across a plurality of different locations, ora single location may have more than one combination of the three. Theset top boxes 102 may store user preferences for a plurality ofdifferent users. For example, a user may indicate a preference foraction movies, that he is a follower of a particular faith, and a memberof a particular political party. Based on these preferences, the set topbox 102 may make intelligent decisions as to which content to prioritizeover others. In prioritizing the content, the set top box may also usethe user preferences to block inappropriate content.

As shown, a plurality of broadcasters 104 broadcast a plurality ofcontent (in the form of television programs, media streams, movies,music, etc.) to each of the plurality of set top boxes 102. Thebroadcaster 104 may broadcast the content over a network 105, which insome embodiments, is the Internet. The network 105 may be any networkcapable of transmitting the broadcast content, and the particularnetwork should not be considered limiting of embodiments disclosedherein. A set top box 102 receiving the plurality of content from thebroadcaster 104 may be controlled by a user using the remote control 103to select a particular content for viewing on the television 101. Whilewatching the content on the television 101, the user may determine thatthe content is inappropriate for any number of reasons. The user maymark the entire content, or just a portion of the content asinappropriate. For example, the content may be morally offensive,culturally offensive, religiously offensive, politically offensive,violent, contain inappropriate sexual content, or inappropriate for anyreason. The user may, while watching the content, provide feedback usingthe remote control 103, via a feedback mechanism in the set top box 102,to indicate that the content is not appropriate. The feedback may bebinary or on a range of values. A user may also provide feedback on anyother number of bases. For example, the user may provide positivefeedback indicating the content is religiously, politically, morally, orculturally appropriate. A user may also provide feedback marking thecontent as belonging to a particular genre, such as sports, comedy, orcountry western programming. The feedback can be of any type, and shouldnot be considered limiting of the disclosure. The feedback is thentransmitted to the broadcaster over the network 105. In someembodiments, the feedback and content (and marked content, discussedlater), may be transmitted via the same network; in other embodiments,different networks are used to transmit the feedback and content.

The broadcaster 104, upon receiving feedback, aggregatescontent-specific feedback received from all users based on any number ofa plurality of criteria. Upon determining that the feedback exceeds apredefined threshold for a criteria, the broadcaster 104 may mark thecontent based on the feedback. For example, if the number of userssubmitting feedback indicating that the content is religiously offensiveto members of the Hindu faith exceeds a predefined threshold, thebroadcaster 104 may mark the content as being offensive to members ofthe Hindu faith. As another example, the content may be marked as beinga comedy movie when a specified number of users submit feedbackindicating it is a comedy movie. The broadcaster 104 may use any methodto tag the content being transmitted to the plurality of set top boxes102, including using a digital signature of bits accompanying thecontent. Once the content has been marked by the broadcaster 104, theremaining portion of the content may bear the mark, and subsequentbroadcasts may also be marked by the broadcaster 104.

Upon receiving marked content which is being watched by a viewer, theset top box 102 may reference a library of user preferences stored inthe set top box 102. For example, the set top box 102 may determinewhether the user is of the Hindu faith, and has specified to blockcontent inappropriate or against the Hindu faith. Therefore, uponreceiving the marked content indicating the marked content isinappropriate for the Hindu faith, the set top box 102 may stopdisplaying the content on the television 101. In some other embodiments,the set top box 102 may provide a graphic user interface (GUI)indicating that the marked content is offensive, and that thepreferences indicate it should not be displayed. The GUI may give theuser the option to block the marked content or continue watching themarked content (which may require a password to override the blockage).In another example, if the marker indicates that the marked content is acomedy movie, the set top box 102, upon determining that userpreferences indicate a preference for comedy movies, may display themarked content (if not already being watched), or may prompt the user todetermine whether the user wishes to view the content matching apreferred genre.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a system 200 for crowd sourcedtelevision systems, according to one embodiment disclosed herein. Asshown, the system includes a server 201. In some embodiments, the server201 may broadcast a plurality of content over a broadcast network. Theserver 201 generally includes a processor 202 connected via a bus 210 toa memory 203, a storage 206, a network interface device 211, an inputdevice 212, and an output device 213. In some embodiments, the networkinterface 211 is used to transmit content to a plurality of receivingdevices via the network 230, such as the computer 251. In some otherembodiments, the server 201 may broadcast over a different medium, suchvia an over-the-air signal transmitted by an antenna.

As shown, the memory 203 contains the broadcast manager 220 and thefeedback manager 221. Although depicted as separate applications, thefunctionality of the broadcast manager 220 and the feedback manager 221may be combined into a single application. The broadcast manager 220 isan application generally configured to broadcast a plurality of contentto a plurality of viewers. In some embodiments, the content, which maybe television shows, sporting events, movies, or any multimedia content,may be stored in the broadcast repository 222. In some embodimentsdisclosed herein, the broadcast manager 220 may mark content to conveyspecific information related to the content. For example, the broadcastmanager 220 may mark content as being sexually explicit, violent, oroffensive to certain groups of people. The feedback manager 221 is anapplication generally configured to receive and aggregate viewerfeedback related to each of the plurality of content broadcast by thebroadcast manager 220. The feedback manager 221 may store viewerfeedback related to the content in the broadcast repository 222. Upondetermining that the aggregated feedback exceeds a specified threshold,the feedback manager 221 may mark the content as exceeding thethreshold. Therefore, if the aggregated feedback exceeds a threshold forviolence, the feedback manager 222 may mark the content as beingviolent. The broadcast manager 220 may transmit the marking along withthe content to the computer 251, which receives the broadcast content.

As shown, the storage 206 contains the broadcast repository 222. Thebroadcast repository 222 is generally configured to store data,including multimedia content, feedback, and a plurality of otherinformation. For example, the broadcast repository 222 may contain aplurality of television programs, a plurality of user feedback relatedto each of the programs, and a plurality of markers which mark theprograms based on the user feedback. The broadcast repository 222 mayalso store predefined thresholds related to feedback categories whichmust be met before marking content. For example, a broadcaster may set athreshold for violence at 30 instances of viewer feedback indicatingcontent is violent, which may be restricted to a given time period.Although depicted as a database, the broadcast repository 222 may takeany format sufficient to store data. Although depicted as a singledatabase, the multimedia content may be stored in a database separatefrom a database storing the reviews and markings. Furthermore, thebroadcast repository 222 may be stored on a different system than thebroadcast manager 220 and the feedback manager 221.

The computer 251 generally includes a processor 252 connected via a bus270 to a memory 253, a storage 255, a network interface device 258, aninput device 259, and an output device 260. In some embodiments, thecomputer 251 is a set top box connected to a television, the televisionserving as the output device 260. In some other embodiments, thecomputer 251 is a television having all the functionality describedherein. As shown, the memory 253 includes the display manager 254. Thedisplay manager 254 is an application generally configured to monitorand output content for display on the output device 260, as well asprovide an interactive user experience for a plurality of viewers. Forexample, a plurality of users may set up profiles via the displaymanager 254 which are stored in the viewer repository 256 of the storage255. Each user may provide different preferences, including but notlimited to preferred genres, religious and political views, andtolerance levels for violence, profanity, and sexually explicit content.The display manager 254 is also configured to receive user feedbackrelated to content being displayed on the output device 260, andtransmit the feedback to the broadcasting source, in some embodiments,the server 201. Additionally, the display manager 254 may permitinteractive viewer voting included in the content being viewed. When thedisplay manager 254 receives marked content from a broadcast source, thedisplay manager 254 may compare the markings to the preferences in thedisplay repository to determine whether action must be taken. Forexample, the display manager 254 may block (or demote) inappropriatecontent, promote favorable content, or prompt a user for further inputrelated to the marked content. For example, the display manager 254 mayindicate that the content is inappropriate based on the user'spreferences, but request a password to override a block which results inthe continued display of the content. The display manager 254 may assigna unique identifier to the computer 251 for the purpose of identifyingthe computer (or the users) who are submitting feedback related to thedisplayed content.

As shown, the storage 255 contains the display repository 256. Thedisplay repository 256 is a data structure configured to store datarelated to user preferences and profiles. The profile information mayinclude demographic information as well as location, religion, politicalparty, and other details. Although depicted as a database, the displayrepository 256 may take any form suitable for storing data. Furthermore,the display repository 256 may be stored on a different system than thedisplay manager 254. In some embodiments, the broadcaster may store user(or computer) settings and preferences in server 201, for example, inthe broadcast repository 222 of the storage 206. The broadcaster may useunique identifiers to identify and store user preferences and thehistory of ratings and votes registered by the user for future use.

The server 201 and computer 251 are generally under the control of anoperating system (not shown). Examples of operating systems includeUNIX, versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system, anddistributions of the Linux operating system. (UNIX is a registeredtrademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries.Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States,other countries, or both. Microsoft and Windows are trademarks ofMicrosoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.)More generally, any operating system supporting the functions disclosedherein may be used. The processors 202 and 252 are included to berepresentative of a single CPU, multiple CPUs, a single CPU havingmultiple processing cores, and the like. Similarly, the memories 203 and253 may be a random access memory. While the memories 203 and 253 areshown as a single entity, it should be understood that the memories 203and 253 may each comprise a plurality of modules, and that the memories203 and 253 each may exist at multiple levels, from high speed registersand caches to lower speed but larger DRAM chips.

The storage 206 and 255 and may be a hard disk drive storage device.Although the storage 206 and 255 are each shown as a single unit, thestorage 206 and 255 may each be a combination of fixed and/or removablestorage devices, such as fixed disc drives, removable memory cards,optical storage, flash memory or solid state storage devices (SSD). Thememory 203 and 253 and the storage 206 and 255 may be part of onevirtual address space spanning multiple primary and secondary storagedevices. In many cases storage can also be a storage area network (SAN)with one or multiple file systems.

The input devices 212 and 259 may be any device for providing input tothe server 201 and computer 251, respectively. For example, a keyboard,keypad, light pen, touch-screen, track-ball, or speech recognition unit,audio/video player, and the like may be used. The output devices 213 and260 may be any device for providing output to a user of the server 201and computer 251. In some embodiments, the output device 260 is atelevision. For example, the output devices 213 and 260 may be anyconventional display screen or set of speakers, along with theirrespective interface cards, i.e., video cards and sound cards. Althoughshown separately from the input devices 212 and 259, the output devices213 and 260 and input devices 212 and 259 may be combined. For example,a display screen with an integrated touch-screen, a display with anintegrated keyboard, or a speech recognition unit combined with a textspeech converter may be used.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method 300 for crowd sourcedtelevision systems, according to one embodiment disclosed herein.Generally, a plurality of content is broadcast to a plurality ofviewers, who may provide feedback on the content they are viewing. Thefeedback may then be aggregated and used to mark content based on thefeedback. The marked content is then broadcast to set top box devices,who manage the marked content for the user. At step 310, content isbroadcast by a broadcaster to a plurality of subscribers. The contentmay be of any type of audio or video, including television shows,movies, sporting events, music videos and the like. The content may bebroadcast locally, regionally, nationally, or throughout the world. Atstep 320, feedback from viewers is received by the broadcaster. Thefeedback may be related to any aspect of the content, includingappropriateness, inappropriateness, genre classification, voting,broadcast quality issues, etc. The appropriateness and inappropriatenessmay be based on any number of categories, including but not limited toreligion, politics, profanity, violence, and sexual content. At step330, the received feedback is aggregated. The feedback may be aggregatedbased on the particular content the feedback relates to, the type offeedback, and a category of feedback. For example, all positive feedbackrelated to the religious aspect of a Christmas movie may be aggregatedtogether. Negative feedback on the same movie may decrement the positivefeedback, or may be considered separately from the positive feedback.

At step 340, the broadcast content is marked based on the receivedfeedback. For example, if the Christmas movie receives positive feedbackfrom Christian viewers, the movie may be tagged as appropriate forChristian viewers. If the content is deemed offensive by a group ofviewers in a particular geographic region, the content may be marked asoffensive for people in that geographic region. Marking content isdescribed in greater detail with reference to FIG. 4. At step 350, themarked content is broadcast. In one embodiment, broadcasting the markedcontent comprises adding a digital marking to the broadcast readable bya plurality of set top boxes and televisions which receive thebroadcast. Additionally, a permanent association may be made with thecontent such that subsequent broadcasts of the content may also containthe marking. Any number of markings may be made with respect to aparticular content, including conflicting positive and negativemarkings, which will be prioritized and filtered at the viewer's viewingdevice based on user preferences such that only the appropriate markingsare accepted and processed. At step 360, described in greater detailwith reference to FIG. 5, the marked content is managed at the viewingdevice. For example, the marked content may be restricted such that itis not displayed for the viewer. A prompt may also be presented to theviewer indicating that the content has been marked and that furtherresponse from the viewer is required (i.e., continue displaying, do notdisplay, enter password to continue displaying).

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method 400 corresponding to step340 for marking content streams, according to one embodiment disclosedherein. As feedback is received by an entity broadcasting content, thecontent is aggregated and compared to predefined thresholds. Thecomparisons may be made based on a count of feedback, or on a mean,median, or mode of the feedback. For example, a minimum of 10 totalitems of feedback may be set as the predefined threshold for markingcontent as offensive. As another example, a median number of votes,compared across types (i.e., positive, negative), may be set as thepredefined threshold. Although the steps of the method 400 are depictedas a flow chart, one, several, or all of the steps may be implemented tomark content. Additionally, any individual content may be marked zero,one, or many times, for different categories, and conflicting markingsmay be provided.

At step 410, content is marked as inappropriate upon determining thatthe aggregated feedback rating the content as inappropriate exceeds apredefined inappropriateness threshold. For example, if theinappropriateness threshold is 50 items of feedback marking content asoffensive to a particular religion, once 50 items of feedback mark thecontent as offensive to a particular religion, the content may be markedas offensive to that particular religion. At step 420, content may bemarked as appropriate upon determining that the aggregated feedbackrating the content as appropriate exceeds a predefined threshold forappropriateness. For example, if the appropriateness threshold is 25items of feedback marking content appropriate for children, once 50items of feedback mark the content as appropriate for children, thecontent may be marked as appropriate for children. At step 430, contentis marked as belonging to a particular genre upon determining that theaggregated feedback rating the content as belonging to the particulargenre exceeds a predefined threshold for genre membership. For example,if 15 items of feedback constitutes the threshold for marking content asbelonging to the Western movie genre, once 15 items of feedback ratingthe content as belonging to the Western movie genre are received, thecontent may be marked as a Western movie. By marking content in such amanner, display devices such as televisions and set top boxes mayprioritize received content based on user preferences. If a user hasindicated an affinity for Western movies, they may be informed whenevera Western movie is on another channel. If a user has indicatedsensitivity to violence (perhaps because of young children in the home),violent content may be restricted from the television. Additionally, thefeedback has values for broadcasters. For example, if users in aparticular geographic region consistently dislike particular content, abroadcaster may decline to broadcast that content in the future.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method 500 corresponding to step360 for managing received marked content, according to one embodimentdisclosed herein. Once a television, computer, or set top box receivesmarked content, the device may retrieve user preferences to determinewhat actions to take to manage the content. The user preferences may notonly specify content-specific preference (such as an aversion toviolence), but also an associated action to take in response toreceiving marked content (such as not displaying the content). At step510, marked content is restricted upon determining that the contentmarked as inappropriate for a particular criterion matches userpreferences for that criterion. Restricting marked content may comprisenot displaying the content automatically, or prompting the user as towhether they wish to continue watching the content, or providing apassword prompt to display restricted content. For example, if contentbeing watched by a user is marked as sexually explicit, the user'spreferences may be referenced. If the user preferences indicate thatsexually explicit content must be restricted, the content may not bedisplayed to the viewers. At step 520, marked content is promoted to auser upon determining that content marked as appropriate for aparticular criterion matches user preferences. For example, if a user'spreferences indicate that the user is a follower of the Hindu faith,content marked as being appropriate for Hindu viewers (possibly by otherHindu viewers) may be promoted to the user. For example, the user mayindicate that they prefer that the content automatically be displayed ontheir television. Or, the user may prefer a prompt which asks the userif they would like to switch to the program which has been marked asappropriate for Hindu viewers. Additionally, in some embodiments, themarked content may be automatically recorded on a storage device, suchas a digital video recorder (DVR), if the marked content satisfiesrecording criteria. At step 530, marked content is promoted to a userupon determining that content marked as belonging to a particular genrematches user preferences. For example, if user preferences indicate theuser prefers Western movies, when content marked as a Western movie isdetected, the content may be automatically displayed for the user. Or,the user may prefer a prompt which asks the user if they would like toswitch to the program which has been marked as a Western movie. Or, themovie may be automatically recorded for the user and saved to a storagedevice, such as a DVR, if the movie satisfies recording criteria. Insome embodiments, the GUI presented to the user on the display may beannotated to indicate the properties of the marked content presented atsteps 510, 520, and 530.

Embodiments disclosed herein provide versatility to broadcasters whowish to please the tastes of a varying population, and enables users toensure that only appropriate and preferred content is displayed on theirviewing devices. Broadcasters may make informed decisions regardingfuture broadcasts based on the user feedback, as well as pinpointspecific areas in which content is deemed inappropriate, or determinewhen broadcast issues/outages occurred.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the presentdisclosure, other and further embodiments of the disclosure may bedevised without departing from the basic scope thereof, and the scopethereof is determined by the claims that follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method to facilitate programmatic prioritization of marked media content for display based on aggregated user feedback, comprising: broadcasting one or more media streams to one or more remote devices, wherein the remote devices are configured to receive user feedback related to the one or more media streams, wherein the remote devices are configured to display a media stream on a display device coupled to the respective remote device; aggregating, based on a predefined aggregation criterion, user feedback received from a first set of the remote devices related to a first media stream, wherein the user feedback is provided by at least one user through the set of remote devices, wherein the user feedback comprises tagging a content of the first media stream as inappropriate; and upon determining that the aggregated user feedback of the first media stream exceeds a predefined threshold for the predefined aggregation criterion: marking the first media stream based on the predefined aggregation criterion; sending the marked first media stream to at least a first remote device of the one or more remote devices, wherein the first remote device is displaying the first media stream and is not part of the first set of remote devices; wherein the marked first media stream, upon receipt by the first remote device, causes the first remote device to perform a predefined operation to restrict display of the marked first media stream on the display device.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined operation to restrict display of the marked first media stream is based on one or more user preferences stored in the one or more remote devices, wherein the predefined aggregation criterion specifies to determine a count of the received user feedback, wherein the predefined operation to restrict display of the marked first media stream comprises, in respective instances, each: restricting display of the first media stream on the display device; and notifying a viewer of the display device that the first media stream is marked as inappropriate.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the aggregated feedback comprises feedback from a second user and a third user marking the first media stream as inappropriate, wherein a second remote device of the second user and a third remote device of the third user are included in the first set of remote devices, wherein display of the marked first media stream is restricted from the display device of the first user based on the feedback from the second user and the third user and without any feedback from the first user.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the user feedback further comprises genre classification and user sentiment related to a genre of the content of first media stream, wherein the predefined operation to restrict display of the marked first media stream comprises, in respective instances, each of: restricting display of the marked first media stream on the display device; and notifying a viewer of the display device that the marked first media stream is of a genre marked as inappropriate by the viewer.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the user feedback belongs to a user feedback category selected from, in respective instances, each of: (i) religion, (ii) politics, (iii) violence, and (iv) explicit content.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the predefined aggregation criterion specifies to determine, in respective instances, each of: (i) a count, (ii) a median, and (iii) a mode of the received user feedback.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the user feedback is provided by the user accessing a graphical user interface generated by the one or more remote devices for output on the display device, wherein the aggregation criterion is further based on, in respective instances, each of: (i) the media stream, (ii) a type of feedback, and (iii) a category of feedback.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more media streams are broadcasted over a first transmissions medium, wherein the user feedback is received over a second transmissions medium, different from the first transmissions medium.
 9. A computer program product to facilitate programmatic prioritization of marked media content for display based on aggregated feedback, the computer program product comprising: a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied therewith, the computer-readable program code comprising: computer-readable program code configured to broadcast one or more media streams to one or more remote devices, wherein the remote devices are configured to receive user feedback related to the one or more media streams, wherein the remote devices are configured to display a media stream on a display device coupled to the respective remote device; computer-readable program code configured to aggregate, based on a predefined aggregation criterion, user feedback received from a first set of remote devices related to a first media stream, wherein the user feedback is provided by at least one user through the set of remote devices, wherein the user feedback comprises tagging a content of the first media stream as inappropriate; and computer-readable program code configured to, upon determining that the aggregated user feedback of the first media stream exceeds a predefined threshold for the predefined aggregation criterion: mark the first media stream based on the predefined aggregation criterion; send the marked first media stream to at least a first remote device of the one or more remote devices, wherein the first remote device is displaying the first media stream and is not part of the first set of remote devices; wherein the marked first media stream, upon receipt by the first remote device, causes the first remote device to perform a predefined operation to display of the marked first media stream on the display device.
 10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the predefined operation to display of the marked first media stream is based on one or more user preferences stored in the one or more remote devices, wherein the predefined aggregation criterion specifies to determine a count of the received user feedback, wherein the aggregated feedback comprises feedback from a second user and a third user marking the first media stream as preferred, wherein a second remote device of the second user and a third remote device of the third user are included in the first set of remote devices, wherein the marked first media stream displayed on the display device of the first user based on the feedback from the second user and the third user and without any feedback from the first user.
 11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the predefined aggregation criterion specifies to determine a count of the received user feedback, wherein the predefined operation to display the marked first media stream comprises, in respective instances, each of: outputting the first media content for display on the display device; and notifying a viewer of the display device that the first media stream is recommended.
 12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the user feedback further comprises genre classification and user sentiment related to a genre of the content of the first media stream, wherein the predefined aggregation criterion specifies to determine a count of the received user feedback, wherein the predefined operation to display of the marked first media stream comprises, in respective instances, each of: outputting the first media content for display on the display device; and notifying a viewer of the display device that the first media stream is of a genre preferred by the viewer.
 13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the user feedback belongs to a user feedback category selected from, in respective instances, each of: (i) religion, (ii) politics, (iii) violence, and (iv) explicit content.
 14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the predefined aggregation criterion specifies to determine, in respective instances, each of: (i) a count, (ii) a median, and (iii) a mode of the received user feedback.
 15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the user feedback is provided by the user accessing a graphical user interface generated by the one or more remote devices for output on the display device.
 16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the one or more media streams are broadcasted over a first transmissions medium, wherein the user feedback is received over a second transmissions medium, different from the first transmissions medium, wherein the aggregation criterion is further based on, in respective instances, each of: (i) the media stream, (ii) a type of feedback, and (iii) a category of feedback.
 17. A system, comprising: one or more computer processors; and a memory containing a program, which, when executed by the one or more computer processors performs an operation to facilitate programmatic prioritization of marked media content for display based on aggregated user feedback, the operation comprising: broadcasting one or more media streams to one or more remote devices, wherein the remote devices are configured to receive user feedback related to the one or more media streams, wherein the remote devices are configured to display a media stream on a display device coupled to the respective remote device; aggregating, based on a predefined aggregation criterion, user feedback received from a first set of remote devices related to a first media stream, wherein the user feedback is provided by at least one user through the set of remote devices, wherein the user feedback comprises tagging a content of the first media stream as inappropriate; and upon determining that the aggregated user feedback of the first media stream exceeds a predefined threshold for the predefined aggregation criterion: marking the first media stream based on the predefined aggregation criterion; sending the marked first media stream to at least a first remote device of the one or more remote devices, wherein the first remote device is displaying the first media stream and is not part of the first set of remote devices; wherein the marked first media stream, upon receipt by the first remote device, causes the first remote device to perform a predefined operation to restrict display of the marked first media stream on the television display device.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the predefined operation to restrict display of the marked first media stream is based on one or more user preferences stored in the one or more remote devices, wherein the predefined aggregation criterion specifies to determine a count of the received user feedback, wherein the predefined operation to restrict display of the marked first media stream comprises, in respective instances, each of: restricting display of the first media stream on the display device; and notifying a viewer of the display device that the first media stream is marked as inappropriate.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein the aggregated feedback comprises feedback from a second user and a third user marking the first media stream as inappropriate, wherein a second remote device of the second user and a third remote device of the third user are included in the first set of remote devices, wherein display of the marked first media stream is restricted from the display device of the first user based on the feedback from the second user and the third user and without any feedback from the first user.
 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the user feedback further comprises genre classification and user sentiment related to a genre of the content of first media stream, wherein the predefined operation to restrict display of the marked first media stream comprises, in respective instances, each of: restricting display of the marked first media stream on the display device; and notifying a viewer of the display device that the marked first media stream is of a genre marked as inappropriate by the viewer.
 21. The system of claim 20, wherein the user feedback belongs to a user feedback category selected from, in respective instances, each of: (i) religion, (ii) politics, (iii) violence, and (iv) explicit content.
 22. The system of claim 21, wherein the predefined aggregation criterion specifies to determine, in respective instances, each of: (i) a count, (ii) a median, and (iii) a mode of the received user feedback.
 23. The system of claim 22, wherein the user feedback is provided by the user accessing a graphical user interface generated by the one or more remote devices for output on the display device.
 24. The system of claim 23, wherein the one or more media streams are broadcasted over a first transmissions medium, wherein the user feedback is received over a second transmissions medium, different from the first transmissions medium, wherein the aggregation criterion is further based on, in respective instances, each of: (i) the media stream, (ii) a type of feedback, and (iii) a category of feedback. 